Trexquant Investment LP Buys 16,193 Shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTX

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in MarketAxess by 274.0% during the first quarter, owning 22,103 shares valued at approximately $4.78 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for MarketAxess, with five recommending a Buy, six a Hold, and one a Sell, alongside a consensus target price of $228.09.
• MarketAxess recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.7%.

Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Free Report) by 274.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,193 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.06% of MarketAxess worth $4,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKTX. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in MarketAxess by 999.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 222,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,104,000 after acquiring an additional 202,121 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 25,960.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,693,000 after purchasing an additional 182,761 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 64.8% during the first quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 402,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $87,083,000 after purchasing an additional 158,240 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of MarketAxess by 285.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 186,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,364,000 after purchasing an additional 138,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of MarketAxess during the first quarter valued at about $26,786,000. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MarketAxess Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKTX traded down $1.46 during trading on Thursday, hitting $180.13. The stock had a trading volume of 716,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,012. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.88. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $178.20 and a one year high of $296.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.62.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.06. MarketAxess had a net margin of 26.62% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $219.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. MarketAxess's payout ratio is currently 51.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $237.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $283.00 to $274.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MarketAxess from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $204.00 price objective (up previously from $202.00) on shares of MarketAxess in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on MarketAxess from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MarketAxess currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $228.09.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.